Chapter 1: I, Gao Wen, Am Not a Fairy Knight!

Life itself is quite a fucking mess.

Gao Wen had just passed the civil service interview in his hometown county town yesterday morning, thinking that in a few months he would start his job and have security for the rest of his life.

Although the life of a civil servant is simple and unadorned, a bit plain, in an era where thirty-five basically declares de facto retirement, who can refuse a permanent meal ticket?

As for the problems of low income and difficulty finding a partner...

Heh, under the current version of affairs, even a dog wouldn't date over that stuff.

Moreover, saying that civil servants sit firmly in the first tier of the blind date market shouldn't be an exaggeration, right?

Who could have known that after waking up from a sleep, Gao Wen would arrive on this desolate island before him, changed into a set of tight black leather armor, with several new scars on his body, from beneath whose bandages blood was faintly seeping.

Painful.

At this moment, a noisy sound came to Gao Wen's ears...

"Although we temporarily escaped that bastard Morgan, he will be able to find this place in at most two or three months."

"Our ship was also damaged in the previous battle; without repairs, it will be difficult to continue sailing, and by then we..."

"Captain, what should we do next?"

Dozens of pirates surrounded Gao Wen, speaking one after another, making the air instantly noisy, yet anyone could hear the terror in their tones.

Gao Wen listened in a daze and subconsciously opened his mouth to shout a rebuke:

"Silence!"

After some thought, Gao Wen finally organized the chaotic memories in his mind.

He was precisely the captain of this pirate crew, the great pirate 'Knight' Gao Wen, with a bounty of 8 million.

A few days ago, they encountered Morgan at sea; after a battle where they were defeated, he led the remnants fleeing all the way to this desolate island.

Although he had inherited not only the name of a certain senior but even his Heroic Spirit skin from a certain Chaldea, of course not a Fairy Knight, he uniquely lacked the other's ability to be invincible under the noon sun.

For a moment, Gao Wen felt that the matter of life was even more fucking messed up.

Transmigration was one thing, but transmigrating into the world of One Piece and immediately landing on a wanted poster, with a relentless Marine chasing behind, was another.

If things developed according to the current situation, with good luck he would go to Impel Down to eat prison food where living would be worse than dying, and with bad luck he would simply be buried in the vast sea.

No matter how one looked at it, neither of these two situations was a good choice.

As for this fellow Morgan, Gao Wen had some impression of him.

To be honest, within the worldview of One Piece, Morgan was just a fallen Marine who could barely show off his power in the East Blue; on the Grand Line, anyone could hang him up and beat him.

But here came the problem.

Gao Wen could not beat him.

His predecessor had fought that fellow not long ago, being completely suppressed throughout the entire fight without any chance to resist, and the knight sword in his hand had been chopped by that large axe until several notches appeared.

This matter fully proved that although Axe Emperor was weak, he was still an existence capable of splitting Old Man Garp until he bled with a single axe strike, so not just anyone could try to mess with him.

This also gave him a precise positioning of his current combat strength:

Small fry.

Compared to those overwhelmingly powerful, non-human existences in Gao Wen's memories, he possessed no comparability whatsoever.

Thinking of this, Gao Wen's eyebrows frowned slightly.

He was the type who lived in the present, only tangling himself with immediate problems.

And currently, for him, the most important thing was how to survive amidst Morgan's pursuit and killing.

After some thought.

Gao Wen still had no clue in his heart, and his gaze involuntarily turned toward the pirates before him.

On most of their faces was an expression of panic and bewilderment.

This pirate crew had experienced half a month of continuous flight; internally, everyone was already terrified, and there were even faint rumors of mutiny.

It was only previously suppressed by Gao Wen using force, but now...

Gao Wen swept a glance at the wounds on his body that were seeping blood.

In the crowd farther away, a gaze likewise rested upon Gao Wen's blood-seeping wounds; the corner of that person's mouth curled up in a ferocious smile, and then he stepped forward, his voice sharp like grinding glass:

"If you ask me, everyone might as well just scatter."

"Following the captain for these few months, we haven't scooped up any oil or water, and we aren't allowed to act against civilians; brothers, let alone living good days, we can barely eat."

"Are we to stay here and wait for death?"

"Or perhaps should we change captains..."

Once these words were spoken, the crowd surged again, and the pirates who had originally surrounded Gao Wen subconsciously increased their distance.

Gao Wen also saw clearly the appearance of the person who had spoken.

A bald burly man over three meters tall, covered in ropy muscles, yet his voice was as thin as a woman's.

The burly man was named Lancer, Gao Wen's nominal second-in-command, but in reality, this fellow had been coveting the captain's position for more than just a day or two.

He had always held considerable grievances because Gao Wen was unwilling to act against civilians, and had even gathered a large group of followers within the pirate crew, implicitly meaning to stand on equal footing with Gao Wen.

Nowadays, he was probably thinking of taking the opportunity to rise to power while Gao Wen was injured.

A pirate crew of fewer than a hundred people could still have so many troubles; regarding this, Gao Wen could only say that in a small temple the demonic wind is strong, and in a shallow pond there are many turtles.

In reality, if it were any other pirate captain, if anyone in the team dared to challenge him, he would have long ago split that person in two with a single blade.

After all, even Mugiwara, didn't he brutally beat Usopp in Water 7 for challenging the captain's authority?

But the predecessor simply did not do this; he insisted on observing the so-called knightly code, muttering to himself every day about things like benevolence and mercy, which were tricks to fool ghosts.

If you are so upright, why are you being a pirate?

What, you slept with the Wang Fei of the Goa Kingdom?

And her name is Guinevere?

No, bro, did you pick up the wrong script? Isn't this the dirty work of that purple-haired guy who's got it in for you?!

The point is, you had your fun, you left, and the one cleaning up the mess is me?

Gao Wen's gaze hardened, his expression turning cold.

A mutiny among the crew, or pirates rising against their captain — the losing side almost certainly can't escape the word "death."

Gao Wen doesn't want to die, so the ones who die can only be others.

Although this is a transmigration, the memories and combat instincts left in this body by its former owner still exist, and they inevitably influence Gao Wen's thinking.

As for killing people or anything like that…

Although the former owner adhered to the knightly spirit, once you've become a pirate, who among you doesn't have blood on both hands?

Besides, a knight's mercy is reserved for his own people. Once on the battlefield, more often than not he plays the role of an executioner.

The decisiveness the former owner lacked, Gao Wen has; the strength Gao Wen lacks, the former owner has!

If I can't handle those monsters on the sea… pfft, I can't handle you?!

Gao Wen raised his eyes to look at Lan Se, his voice cold and harsh:

"What?"

"Going to make a move on me?"

Clang!

The knight's sword slowly slid from its sheath, its cold gleam refracting the firelight.

Gao Wen's entire presence changed in an instant — sharp and piercing, killing intent spreading all around.

The sudden change left the surrounding pirates with stunned expressions. Having followed Gao Wen for years, when had they ever seen Gao Wen reveal such a fearsome killing intent?

Seeing this, Lan Se clenched his jaw, a flicker of fear flashing through his eyes, but at this point the arrow was already on the bowstring — he had no choice but to let it fly.

Although Gao Wen was already injured, in a direct confrontation Lan Se still had no confidence in taking him down.

But he knew Gao Wen's character — soft-hearted toward his subordinates, indecisive. Such a person was the easiest to fool and the easiest to deal with.

Lan Se tightened his grip on the flintlock tucked against him, an expression of heartbroken anguish on his face:

"Captain, are you really going to watch every last brother on this ship die before you—!"

Before Lan Se could finish, Gao Wen stepped forward in a single stride, crossing the distance between them, his longsword tracing a silver arc through the air.

By the time the onlookers registered what had happened, a human head had already slowly fallen to the ground, and the flintlock Lan Se had just drawn was also severed in two by Gao Wen's sword.

Plop!

From the broken barrel, the unspent black powder drifted out like dust.

Lan Se's headless corpse still held the pose of drawing his pistol, then twitched a few times before toppling backward onto the ground, blood pooling everywhere.

Swish!

Gao Wen flicked the fresh blood from his blade, swept a cold gaze around the circle, his voice utterly flat:

"Anyone else?!"

The crowd fell deathly silent in an instant; the scene before them was enough to chill them to the bone.

After all, no one had expected Gao Wen to strike with such resolve — not even leaving Lan Se the slightest room to turn things around.

One must remember that with his former character, he would never have raised his sword against his own people until the very last moment. That was also why Lan Se and the others, despite being weaker than Gao Wen, had dared to force him to abdicate.

But now everything seemed to have changed.

Yet such a captain made them feel immensely more dependable — on the contrary, pirates ought to be exactly like this.

Strong, cold-blooded, ruthless — only such a person could survive longer on the sea!

Seeing no one respond, Gao Wen retreated to his own seat.

A few pale-faced pirates stepped forward, dragged Lan Se's corpse away, leaving a trail of blood-red stains.

The surroundings fell terrifyingly quiet.

From Lan Se's forced abdication to Gao Wen's sudden killing spree, it had taken no more than a dozen seconds, yet the shock it dealt the onlookers was more intense than anything before.

Simply because the captain who had always adhered to the knightly spirit had finally, at this moment, revealed his most vicious fangs.

In the gazes the crowd turned on Gao Wen, a fire called hope was once again kindled.

If earlier they had instinctively looked to their captain Gao Wen, now they truly regarded him as their savior.

Gao Wen, however, had no mind to pay attention to their reactions. A mechanical prompt suddenly sounded in his mind:

"Captain System activated!"

"Congratulations on unlocking Badge — Captain's Fury!"

"Crew stamina recovery speed +20%!"

(End of this chapter)